Read Dr. Terry's account of how the pew edition came into being.

Theological Edge writes an interesting post proposing a global approach to planning a worship service.

1. Is our worship any better or any worse than that of the early church?
2. Have the facilities and resources we have access to helped or hindered our worship?
3. How does the fact that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever affect how we worship and how we lead worship?
4. Was there such a thing as a "worship leader" in the early church? Was there ONE person (or ensemble) that the "congregation" relied upon to help them worship God?

Good words and Greek words on being "a living sacrifice."

In Cooper City, FL, you can legally have church in a strip mall..

Did you go to the National Worship Leader Conference sponsored by Worship Leader Magazine? Garrett and Erin did. So did Mark D. Roberts. So did Fred McKinnon, Russ Hutto, Recovering Prodigal, and Shaun Groves.

If you did, and I didn't link to you, let me know.

Oh, while we were there, we did host a Rock Band video game tournament... and here are the winners:

Shout out to Matthew Mendez, Raphael Guerra, and Marcus Guerra for their nearly-half-a-million point performance!

Josh Payne says...

And, just as a side note, John's worship leading is of a much different style than you'd find in your average Baptist church- the one I grew up in included. John the Charismatic could have been a more appropriate term were his name a reflection of his denomination or worship flavor as some have supposed.

I know... I know... that's not Josh's point. He goes on to make two great points about the worship ministry of John.

Is your worship ministry more like Josh's "average Baptist church" or more like John's?

Wade Rials has a succinct post on "me," "my" and "we" versus "His."

Mark Hare, senior editor at the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper of Rochester, NY talks at length about the megachurches in his area.

I'm always interested to find out what perspectives that non-Christians have on worship. Not so that I can adopt them, but so that I can better understand my own understanding and so that I can understand the perspective of those I want to reach for Christ. This UU minister posits that worship is possible when there is nothing to worship.

I was attracted to this article, especially in light of the horrible event that happened in our state last week. As an evangelical Christian, I am reminded of our mandate for evangelism and our call to pray for those around us.

Has anyone been to Israel and New Breed's Worship Conference? The conference was just announced.

Despite blog posts to the contrary, this title was not selected for the 2008 Baptist Hymnal.

The boys in the trench talk about transforming "announcements" in your church.

when it comes to integrity, there is a high road and there is a low road. We need to make sure we're always taking the high road. The congregation does not need to see us as those strange artsy types; they need to see us as people of integrity who minister, serve, and shepherd in the powerful name of Jesus.

Quoted by Greg Brewton, said by Rory at the LifeWay Worship Leadership Conference.

Monday night this week, we had our second PraiSing event at the LifeWay Worship Leadership Conference. Just like the event at Ridgecrest, the Glorieta event was an incredible evening of worship and praise, spanning the breadth of music that churches are using in worship ministry. Here, the Singing ChurchWomen of Oklahoma provided an unparalleled experience, literally adding a sparkle to the evening.

Toward the end of the PraiSing celebration, Mike Harland was talking about the meaning behind worship... the idea that it doesn't matter if you have great equipment and technology, it's about the inward expression of your heart, and quipped, "what would worship be like in your church if the power went out?"

Today, the power went out, and the worship was great! I promise we didn't plan this!

Call it "Music Week," call it the "LifeWay Worship Leadership Week," call it "that thing at Glorieta," it starts today! And this year, we're expecting our largest crowd in over ten years.

Monday night kicks it all off with our PraiSing '08 Glorieta event featuring Mike Harland, Greg Nelson, and the Singing ChurchWomen of Oklahoma.

Bimmer Geek writes a heartfelt, layman's view of worship. Warning to those with sensitive word issues... mildly colorful language in the post, more colorful in other posts. I'm linking to this post because seldom do worship leaders get to read an unvarnished perspective from someone in the congregation.

I have to wonder if we don't really know how to worship. I know I don't. And the way I know this is because when I do the things that are supposed to lead into worship, it is very rare that I feel like I am touching holiness. I've rarely had those "take off your shoes cuz this is holy" moments.

Granted, this isn't everyone in every pew, but it might be someone in one of yours.

I imagine that when some folks read about the LifeWay Worship Project, they imagined something like Northland Church: a ministry where they have a "web congregation." That's not what the project does... but it definitely could be used as part of such a ministry.

Northland is beginning the process of meeting some of its web congregation face to face, asking the question...

Have you ever wondered who those people are? Do you wonder how they found out about web worship or why they choose to worship on line?

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary hosted the International Council of Ethnodoxologists for its first ever graduate level course on the subject.

The Church Whisperer has two good posts, one on paralleling worship styles with spoken language and one entitled simply Quit griping and just worship. Seriously.

I'd add a proof text to the second article: Philippians 2:14-15. Who doesn't want to be blameless and pure?

Carrie thinks highly enough of her worship experience that she is starting a Worship Wednesday series of posts.

At least some Lutheran youth are using hymnals and want to "sing all the verses."

Confessions of a Worship Leader asks the question.

By the way, his assertion that...

a lot of what gets used in church comes from songwriters with the "Nashville Songwriting Formula" that no one knows about but those who are privy to it's use. They go into the studio on Monday morning and bang out a song by mid-afternoon and a few months of production later, it's in a church near you.

multi-part review of Elmer Towns' Putting an End to Worship Wars. (free PDF book download on Elmer's site!)

Daniel talks about the things that have "taken my focus off the Lord and quickly tainted my worship experience."

Scott writes a letter to you on how you can experience "Make Believe Worship," but it's not Scott that signs the letter.

Scott seems to have a lot of points to make in a short amount of time...

Stephen has three points (no poem) about why a worship service should be centered on the Gospel.

There's no question about point number two:

Christians need to be constantly reminded of why they are able to come before God in worship and not be obliterated by His holiness.

What about point numbers one and three?

What I mean is that worship leaders are those designated to lead worship and worship is to be the pervasive attitude of everything we do; it must be the defining characteristic of who and what we are -

BillyV is starting a series of posts on "Worship in the New Testament." He starts with the first "in real life" worshiping of our Savior: Christmas.

Will gives a video rundown of his view of what's right and wrong in Christian music writing today.

Oh and Will, in case you're wondering, Baptist Hymnal (2008) includes "In Christ Alone," but doesn't have "The Church in the Wildwood."

The United Church of Christ has created a new hymnal with lyrics "altered to meet contemporary views on equality, nonviolence and acute social sensitivity." Newsweek gives the details.

We introduced "You Are Good" to the congregation and I was blown away by the response. I should qualify that by saying not everyone in the congregation was on board; but, the vast majority were really into it.

Insert any song title into "You Are Good!"

The church will hold weekly drawings in July and August for gas cards. To qualify, all attendants must show up no later than 10 a.m. to receive a numbered ticket used in the drawing, and also stay for the entire service. Afterward, a number will be drawn and the ticketholder will receive $50 to use for gas.

"It's a good way to have fun with the congregation," he said. "It gives them incentives, and we hope they will see it benefits the church in the long run. They will see it gives us more time to worship God."

Pastor Tim Smith's post about worship at Mars Hill Seattle has a couple of noteworthy comments:

Stripping things back to just voices with a simple guitar emphasized the fact that the congregation is (or should be) just as much a part of the band as the drummer or guitar player.

and

At the end of the day I think the only way to keep musical style from becoming an idol is to mix it up as much as possible. You can't change it up so much that your people can't even follow you but a good rotation of musical styles and dialects keeps folks on their toes. It emphasizes that music is just one of a "thousand tongues" with which we can declare the glory of Jesus Christ.

Does this hold true in your congregation?

John Darnell begins a series of posts on "Essential Relationships for Worship Leaders." Looking at his train of thought, it might be "for worshipers" too.

However, how much do you agree with this assertion?

It becomes apparent that God is not intending for us to focus on Him only, but that corporate worship should be about building the body of believers who are gathering.